FLORENCE + THE MACHINE UNVEIL LIVE VERSION OF “MORNING ELVIS” WITH ETHEL CAIN

Florence + the Machine share a live version of “Morning Elvis” with Ethel Cain today, recorded at the Denver stop of Florence’s Dance Fever tour. Listen here.

“‘Morning Elvis’ is a song about the power of performance,” says Florence. “Of rock and roll tragedy and transcendence. And it’s a sign of a truly special artist when they make a cover their own. When Hayden sang this song it felt like it was hers, she really gave it that outlaw energy, like witches of the Wild West. I even threw more lines at her on the day because her tone and cadence was so perfect I wanted to hear more. And she did not miss a line even with only an hour to rehearse. I truly think I have found a kindred spirit aesthetically and artistically. And now every show I sing ‘Morning Elvis’ with an Ethel Cain inflection.”

“I was giggling when we rehearsed the song just the two of us before the show because Florence told me that ‘Morning Elvis’ was her channeling her inner Southern rocker, and I told her I couldn’t stop myself from emulating her British accent on certain words,” says Ethel. “It felt like a holy convergence happening in a basketball arena. Florence’s dressing room smelled like powder and sage and we were both dressed in white, singing our lines back and forth to each other, and I felt like I was back in choir practice, but with an actual angel this time. She’s never not smiling, and if you would have told me we were the only two people in the entire venue while we sang it in the middle of her set, I would have believed you.”

The official release of the track comes on the heels of Florence’s nomination for Best Alternative Music Performance for “King” at the 65th annual Grammy Awards.

Florence’s much lauded new album Dance Fever, released earlier this year to widespread critical acclaim, has been named to early best of 2022 lists from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Consequence, NYLON, Paste and more.

The album hit #1 in the U.K. and debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts and #7 on the Billboard 200—her fourth consecutive album in the top ten. Since its release, Florence has played sold out arenas across North America and will play a run of U.K. dates in early 2023.

Praise for Dance Fever:

“Dance Fever is a collection of haunting rock songs that are frothing for release…”—The New York Times

“Over the past decade, Welch has become one of the most assured live performers in music. Her sets feel religious, filled with pop anthems that sound as imposing as age-old hymns, which she sings with her equally imposing voice while sprinting across the stage. That makes Dance Fever an apt name for her new album; that’s what her music, at its best, inspires to do.”—Vulture

“In an age that favors—often demands—the constant reinvention of its pop stars, there is a reassuring familiarity to Florence Welch…This wry, gently self-mocking sense of humor runs through Dance Fever, which sees Welch return to the euphoric, stadium-sized anthems that defined her earlier career.”—Vogue

“On the band’s fifth album, she’s still chasing her own heroically errant muse down whichever mossy, forked path it might take her…Dance Fever may be Welch’s most ecstatically extra work yet…No matter what raw deal the world gives her, this is not an artist who will be settling for less.”—Rolling Stone

“Florence Welch’s pandemic album turns her intensity inward, interrogating her relationship to performance and public image. These are her most personal lyrics, and among her most poignant.”—Pitchfork

“She’s long-exhumed the depths of her emotions through the power of booming, bewitching vocals and life-affirming choreography. And that’s no different on Dance Fever, an explosive expression of unity in the face of strife and an exuberant expression of hope.”—Consequence

“…some of the most captivating [songs] Florence The Machine have made in years, and exist as a hellish rebuke against stillness.”—Paste